In brief
The resolution received 130 votes for, 17 against and 25 abstentions, down from 165 for in 2025. Cuba condemned the vote as a new round of U.S. sanctions, while U.S. officials blamed Cuba’s internal policy. African and European leaders urged their countries to back the resolution, and Cuban officials decried the blockade as genocidal. On the next day, Cuban leaders celebrated the vote as a victory for the people.
On Wednesday, October 28, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution to end the U.S. embargo against Cuba, with 130 member states voting in favor, 17 against, and 25 abstaining. The vote marked a loss of 35 votes for Cuba compared with the 165 votes it received in the 2025 vote.
In that change of alignment, countries such as Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Paraguay voted against the resolution, while Chile, Peru, Honduras and the Dominican Republic chose to abstain. Colombia, which had supported the measure in 2025, switched to opposition, and Chile, Peru and Honduras moved from support to abstention. In Latin America, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Nicaragua and Panama remained supportive.
Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla condemned the vote and blamed Washington for a “diplomatic campaign” that pressured other governments. He said, “The consequences fall on people, limit their fundamental human rights, affect third countries and turn the population’s essential needs into instruments of political coercion.”
U.S. officials, according to United Press International, criticized Cuba’s domestic policy and questioned the conduct of Cuban delegates, arguing the island’s internal rules caused the shift in support.
Before the vote, African leaders urged unity in backing Cuba. Pan‑Africanist analyst Fortune Madondo warned that U.S. pressure “is blackmail, employing sanctions, taxes and visa suspensions.” He called for Africa to vote “with a single voice” and to report the blockade as a threat that could soon target other African states.
In Italy, the National Italy‑Cuba Friendship Association asked foreign minister Antonio Tajani to maintain the country’s historic “opposition to U.S. sanctions”. Italian scholar Luciano Vasapollo urged European governments, citing the humanitarian harm and the need to reject U.S. influence.
Cuban ambassador to the Holy See, Leyde Rodriguez, described the blockade as “genocidal” and cited $8.083 billion in economic damages from March 2025 to February 2026. He said the sanctions constituted collective punishment that hurt families and public services.
On October 29, Cuban President Miguel Diaz‑Canel praised the General Assembly’s decision as a triumph for truth over blackmail. He wrote on X: “The vote is a victory for the heroic Cuban people, who have not surrendered, even under economic suffocation, threats and abuse by the U.S. government.”
